I finished a course of Combivir pep treatment about a week days ago. I went on Combivir approximately 30 hours after exposure to unprotected receptive oral sex. While on Combivir, I started getting many side effects including GI issues. I also experienced slight difficulty breathing and the feeling of a lump in my throat every ones in a while. This feeling of the lump in my throat is still there and is starting to make me cough with a slight feeling of having a scratchy throat. I never experienced any enlarged nodes, but one of my tonsils is a bit irritated. Is either the feeling of having a lump in your throat with scratchy throat with cough or enlarged tonsil signs of HIV infection? Also, I am very confused as to what percentage of people actually get the symptoms when infected?

Response from Dr. Henry

The symptoms you describe would unlikely be due to persistent side effects from the Combivir. Where you evaluated for other sexually transmitted diseases (such as herpes or gonorrhea)? The symptoms you describe are very non-specific for HIV infection (which is very unlikely after oral sex with followed by PEP). KH

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